escape. 4.
Kauai - Napali Coast
I have been hard pressed to find a place more beautiful than Kauai. After visiting for the first time in June 2016, I was on a plane back less than a year later. There are so many places that I want to see, but I still find myself fighting the urge not to just go back to Hawaii again. Hawaii was Plan B. I had every intention of going to the UK for a short trip that month, but if I’m honest, the planning got overwhelming so I decided to go with a trip a lot easier to plan.
For our first full day on the Island of Kauai, “The Garden Isle” and the oldest of the islands of Hawaii, I had booked a six hour zodiac tour of the Napali Coast. Our group was large compared to the group I’d go with a 9 months later. There was a family of four (very happy looking mom, chill zen dad, early twenties girl, and early twenties guy who wouldn’t follow the rules), a red headed girl about our age and her boyfriend/husband (who was not at all thrilled when Corey got seasick), two middle aged couples (who sat at the front of the boat, and the guy who trolled Corey in the bathroom), and a very nice newly wed couple who sat next to Corey and I. Our captain was a short in stature and very warm Hawaiian girl, about our age, and a thin, quieter male first mate.
Prior to boarding the boat, the captain voiced how pleased she was to see such a beautiful day. We were very lucky. It was very clear outside, and the water was very calm with three foot swells.
Once we were aboard, we set sale for a tour of the “ugly part” of the coast. The south shore. The less rigid cliff sides. She told us all about the naval base there. We saw the missile launchers where they test missiles in the ocean. As we were in the area, we happened upon a beautiful pod of spinner dolphins.
As we sat still in that small piece of the vast ocean, the boat moved ever so steady and smooth at the grace of the gentle swells beneath us. A quiet reverence fell amongst the group, exaggerated by the sudden silence of the engine. We were completely surrounded.
There were pairs of dolphins swimming in gradual motions around us. These dolphins were paired up as they were in their resting phase, the dolphin version of sleep. Other dolphins whizzed playfully about. They came right up to the boat. I could have leapt in the water with them. I saw two baby dolphins, which looked like elongated footballs. They were so precious. I felt so grateful to be in their presence. What are the chances that had brought us together, at that moment in time?
Spinner dolphins can only be seen in the wild because if separated from their pods they go into a depression and choose to die instead of continue living in captivity. Pods are typically about 100 dolphins, but every now and then you may come across a super pod of 500-1,000 dolphins. All of this according to our captain.
After our moment of reverence, it was time to play. The captain turned the engine on the zodiac again, and started making waves with the boat, much to the pleasure of the dolphins, They followed behind the boat jumping and playing in the waves it created. The captain told us to continue cheering for them. The more you cheer and whistle, the more they jump. It seems to work. Their bellies even turn pink to blush at your applause.
Above the dolphin in this picture, you can see a dense piece above the water. This little island is Ni’ihau, “The Forbidden Isle.”
Elizabeth Sinclair purchased Niʻihau from Kamehameha V in 1864 for $10,000 in gold. The island was home to a group of native Hawaiians who were allowed to stay and live on the island. You cannot visit the island, except through limited excursions offered by The Robinsons, the owners and descendants of Elizabeth Sinclair. According to the 2009 US Census, there are around 130 residents currently on Ni’ihau. These residents live as close to the native Hawaiian way as it gets, preserving the language. They make beautiful lei’s from the famous Ni’ihau pūpū shells. We were blessed to find a large selection of some authentic lei’s at a certified dealer in southern Kauai. The Ni’ihau spend hours scouring the beach for beautiful shells, and weave them together intricately. Their larger lei’s can sell for as much as $8000. They grow in value as the population of Ni’ihau continues to dwindle, with younger generations leaving for life on the mainland.
After learning about Ni’ihau, I was so sad to leave the dolphins behind, to move further up the shoreline of Kauai.
Our captain stopped at a small stretch of calm ocean and asked if we wanted to go out for a swim. I had looked at Corey fearful and voiced my fear of sharks to the captain as others in our group jumped into the water. She reassured me not to worry. The water around us was turquoise and crystal clear. A vast ocean all around us, there was a very low likelihood of a shark encounter. I lamented how Bethany Hamilton was from Kauai, the surfer who had her arm taken off by a shark there, and the captain explained that she typically surfs in the early parts of the morning when the sharks are feeding. I wasn’t sure if this was true, but she seemed reassured. I jumped in. I am so glad I did.
In one of my earlier posts on here, I talk about how much I love being on boats and how I jump at the opportunity to get in the water, as it makes me feel a part of the earth. This is the moment that started that. I had faced my fears and placed myself at the mercy of the earth. At the mercy of the wild. While I am an okay swimmer, I am certainly not a fast swimmer. Also, getting to safety would have required me to swim to the boat and climb a ladder, which had not been lowered at that point. Whichever way you spin it, if something were to happen, I would be delayed to safety.
When I am in the water, my wellbeing is beyond my control. It belongs solely to the earth. The reality is, this is true all of the time. It can be so easy to forget the presence of God and that your safety and security is ordained by Him alone. It can be so easy to get caught up in self doubt and blame in frustrated attempts to control life. I am very hard on myself. I constantly stress and try to predict and premeditate the problems of my life. The problems of my world. When I am in that moment, I am okay with it all. I am okay with living. I am okay with dying. I remember that it’s not all about me. I remember that I am a small and insignificant part of a vast earth, and when I come out the other side of it, safe and sound, I am reminded of the mercies God affords me every day.
Thank you to the aforementioned newly wed husband for capturing this moment for us.
As we moved up the coast, we saw “King Kong,” a rock outcropping that marks the beginning of the “pretty side” of the coast. You can barely see it in this photo, but its at the base of the cliff. Appropriately named, as iconic scenes of King Kong were filmed on the Napali. Particularly the scene where Jessica Lange bathes in a waterfall from King Kong’s hand.
As we entered the area, we were blessed by the presence of sea turtles. The feed on the green and red algae that grows at the base of the rock along the shore. We didn’t get to see them eating, as they were a little preoccupied with, ahem, a more private moment. ;) #turtlestyle
As we moved up the shoreline, our captain moved the zodiac in and out of sea caves. As it was calm summer time, we had lots of company. There were large groups of kayakers finding refuge in the caves as we moved in and out. There was quite a congregate at the most iconic sea cave along the coast, an open top cave that the ocean carved so deep into the cliff side the ceiling fell it, creating a small island in the middle. I took some really beautiful pictures and videos of this cave when I came back the second time, but due to the amount of kayakers and people on our boat, I settled for this selfie.
As we moved up the shore, hugging it pretty close as the zodiac allowed, I was elated that Plan B had prevailed. Magestic is the only way to describe it. It was such a clear day, and after experiencing fog on my second trip, I have come to retrospectively appreciate the views even more. It was so clear we could see all the way to the top of “water flowing from God’s throne,” the second tallest sea waterfall in the world.
The magic I felt as we floated beneath waterfalls inside of the sea caves. The cold water against my warm skin elevated my spirit. My mind floated far, far above. The gifts of the earth meeting me in the quiet.
We continued up the coast line exploring caves, and because we had to turn the engine off to float in and out of some of them, the boat was being tossed and turned more sporadically. Having not eaten in sometime, Corey got really sea sick. The captain didn’t seem super concerned, advising he “go for distance” and “focus on the horizon.” This helped him. Although she was chill about it, one guy moved quickly away from Corey, afraid he would end up in the line of fire. I was dismayed for Corey. I could tell he was embarrassed, but he pushed through.
We arrived at an abandoned beach for lunch. As we approached the shore, we saws rare monk seal feeding on the reef. He was so cute. This particular monk seal had been feeding on the reef recently. There are only 40-45 monk seals in and around Kauai, so I was impressed at our luck. The cute water doggo and the chance to get off of the boat was a welcome sight to both Corey and I.
I jumped immediately in the water as soon as I was handed my snorkel gear to see the monk seal. In my quest, I swam out deeper into the ocean tun I would have liked, and noticing the murky water and finding myself surrounded by fish, I retreated back to the safety of the reef and the shoreline.
We had a delicious lunch. I faintly remember it now. I know there was fresh fruit, some sort of seasoned pork, and some sort of slaw. It doesn’t sound tropical, but it was tropically seasoned. Our captain had brought homemade poke (Hawaiian raw fish salad). We had tried poke the night before at our hotel, but knew it wasn’t a good representation as all of the food there was mediocre. I never eat hotel food, but we were tired and desperate the evening before, not wanting to drive. She shared generously with us and the newly wed couple. It was very good, but I was partial to what I was already eating. The newly wed husband ended up eating the rest of it.
After eating, the first mate took us on a tour of the beach, an abandoned ancient Hawaiian village area. I remember we joined with another zodiac group, and we’d overheard one of the people in that group say he worked for the company hat supplied the paper for NBC’s The Office. (Ugh, why wasn’t he on our boat? I had so many questions.)
There were noni trees growing all about bearing their strange fruit. The outside of the fruit looks like diseased boil skin, but the inside looked like refreshing citrus but smelled like rotting cheese. Our guide invited us to taste it but warned we might regret it. A couple in our group tried it, but I wasn’t willing to have a bad taste in my mouth the rest of the ride back! Or worse, get sea sick.
There were goats all around the island. We were told some story about how Captain Vancouver had made a deal with the King, saying he would bring cows to Hawaii, describing how one animal could sustain a lot of people. I forget what he traded them for. Oh, me. Anyway. So, on the long voyage back to Hawaii, they got super hungry and ate the cows and all they had left were goats. They told the king the “cows” would grow into the large beasts he described. They never did. Kauai is overrun with feral goats now. They were all over the lava rock cliff side encasing the beach, which contributes to erosion and lava rock is very brittle. The day before a goat had come tumbling down the cliffside. The beach is an archeological area, still having rock platforms made by the Polynesians where hula dancers would perform for the king. They goats trample them which is a clear sustainability problem. DEY REAL CUTE THO. It was surreal to imagine in my minds eye what it must have been like to witness a hula there.
We saw a cut out in the rock with some authentic original coconut rope hanging from it. Another small village had been on the other side of the cliff, and the two villages would pass provisions through the small crevice.
One of the things that surprised me about Hawaii, is the amount of lore that is all around. I don’t know why I was surprised. The ancient polynesian culture was rich and robust. I was surprised that there are Hawaiians who still practice the religion. In the picture below, you can see an “X” on the cliff wall that was formed long ago by lava. The legend says that Pele (goddess of volcanoes) had such love for her sister (goddess of plants) that she “marked” the island of Kauai to symbolize that she would never touch it with her fire again. Thus, Kauai became the garden island. Legend says that she had such love for her sister, that she slowly did the same thing with all of the islands in Hawaii except the Big Island. Every island other than the Big Island in Hawaii has this “x” mark, and all face in the same direction. The Big Island is the only island in Hawaii that has an active volcano today.
After exploring the island, we made our way back to the dock. I am so grateful for this day. I am so grateful to be alive.